Category Visionaries

Barry Lunn, CEO & Founder of Provizio: $11 Million Raised to Power the Future of Vehicle Safety

Welcome to another episode of Category Visionaries — the show that explores GTM stories from tech's most innovative B2B founders. In today's episode, we're speaking with Barry Lunn, CEO & Founder of Provizio, a vehicle safety platform that's raised over $11 Million in funding.
Here are the most interesting points from our conversation:
Company Focus: Provizio is developing radar-based active safety technology aimed at predicting and preventing automotive crashes, providing a safer path toward autonomous vehicles.
Industry Experience: Barry's extensive background in high-frequency electronics and radar, especially in aerospace and defense, influenced his pivot to focus on solving car crash problems in the automotive industry.
Autonomous Vehicle Insights: Barry appreciates the progress of companies like Waymo but emphasizes the need for broader adoption and regulatory support to significantly reduce vehicle crashes.
Regulation and Safety: Barry is a strong advocate for regulation in automotive safety. He highlights recent developments like FMVSS 127, which mandates active safety technology in all new vehicles by 2029.
Licensing Model: Provizio’s licensing model allows for widespread adoption of their technology by automotive suppliers, ensuring better performance and lower costs while turning potential competitors into customers.
Long-Term Vision: Barry envisions Provizio’s technology becoming ubiquitous in vehicles worldwide, likening its necessity to that of seat belts, with a goal of having it in millions of cars within the next five years.
//
 
Sponsors:
Front Lines — We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership.
www.FrontLines.io
The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe. 
www.GlobalTalent.co
 

Deon Nicholas, CEO & Co-Founder of Forethought: $92 Million Raised to Power the Future of Customer Support with AI

Welcome to another episode of Category Visionaries — the show that explores GTM stories from tech's most innovative B2B founders. In today's episode, we're speaking with Dan Lorenc, CEO & Founder of Chainguard, a software supply chain security platform that has raised $250 Million in funding.
Here are the most interesting points from our conversation:
Focus on Open Source Security: Chainguard aims to provide a secure source for open source code, addressing the risks associated with the widespread use of open source software in modern applications.
Industry Recognition Post-SolarWinds: The importance of software supply chain security became mainstream after the SolarWinds breach in December 2020, highlighting vulnerabilities in the software development process.
Founding Story: Inspired by the increasing attention on software supply chain security, Dan and his co-founder Matt decided to leverage their experience at Google to address these challenges, officially launching Chainguard in October 2021.
Initial Funding and Market Timing: Chainguard was founded during a peak period for venture capital investment, enabling them to secure initial funding quickly and focus on exploring market needs.
Strategic Pivot: Early on, Chainguard experimented with multiple products before pivoting to focus on the one with the greatest demand, resulting in a successful transition and growth in revenue.
Marketing and Awareness: Chainguard invested heavily in brand awareness through social media, PR, and content creation, aiming to be recognized as a leader in the software supply chain security space.
//
 
Sponsors:
Front Lines — We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership.
www.FrontLines.io
The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe. 
www.GlobalTalent.co

Dan Lorenc, CEO & Founder of Chainguard: $250 Million Raised to Power the Future of Software Supply Chain Security

Welcome to another episode of Category Visionaries — the show that explores GTM stories from tech's most innovative B2B founders. In today's episode, we're speaking with Dan Lorenc, CEO & Founder of Chainguard, a software supply chain security platform that has raised $250 Million in funding.
Here are the most interesting points from our conversation:
Focus on Open Source Security: Chainguard aims to provide a secure source for open source code, addressing the risks associated with the widespread use of open source software in modern applications.
Industry Recognition Post-SolarWinds: The importance of software supply chain security became mainstream after the SolarWinds breach in December 2020, highlighting vulnerabilities in the software development process.
Founding Story: Inspired by the increasing attention on software supply chain security, Dan and his co-founder Matt decided to leverage their experience at Google to address these challenges, officially launching Chainguard in October 2021.
Initial Funding and Market Timing: Chainguard was founded during a peak period for venture capital investment, enabling them to secure initial funding quickly and focus on exploring market needs.
Strategic Pivot: Early on, Chainguard experimented with multiple products before pivoting to focus on the one with the greatest demand, resulting in a successful transition and growth in revenue.
Marketing and Awareness: Chainguard invested heavily in brand awareness through social media, PR, and content creation, aiming to be recognized as a leader in the software supply chain security space.
//
 
Sponsors:
Front Lines — We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership.
www.FrontLines.io
The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe. 
www.GlobalTalent.co

Justin Dearborn, Founder & CEO of Praia Health: $20 Million Raised to Build the Future of Consumer Experience in Healthcare

Welcome to another episode of Category Visionaries — the show that explores GTM stories from tech's most innovative B2B founders. In today's episode, we're speaking with Justin Dearborn, Founder & CEO of Praia Health, a healthcare technology platform that has raised $20 Million in funding.
Here are the most interesting points from our conversation:
Consumer-Centric Healthcare: Justin explains how Praia Health is creating a digital journey for patients that mirrors consumer experiences outside of healthcare, aiming to enhance convenience and personalization.
Telehealth and Digital Adoption Post-Covid: The pandemic accelerated the adoption of telehealth and digital solutions in healthcare, with patients increasingly choosing providers based on their digital experiences.
Founding Story and Unique Incubation: Praia Health was incubated at Providence Health System's Digital Innovation Group, which identifies technology gaps, builds solutions, and then spins them out as separate companies.
Go-To-Market Strategy: Praia Health employs both direct and indirect strategies, targeting innovative health systems and partnering with established companies to enhance existing investments in patient engagement.
Sales Process in Healthcare: Selling to health systems is complex and lengthy, involving numerous stakeholders and stringent security assessments, but Praia Health's mature platform simplifies implementation and integration.
Fundraising Challenges: Fundraising in the current climate is challenging, but Praia Health successfully secured funding from notable venture firms with healthcare system LPs, emphasizing the importance of showing a strong ROI.
//
 
Sponsors:
Front Lines — We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership.
www.FrontLines.io
 
The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe.
www.GlobalTalent.co

Brock Leonti, CEO & Co-Founder of Prescribe FIT: $15 Million Raised to Build the Future of Orthopedic Care

Welcome to another episode of Category Visionaries — the show that explores GTM stories from tech's most innovative B2B founders. In today's episode, we're speaking with Brock Leonti, CEO & Co-Founder of Prescribe FIT, an orthopedic care platform that's raised $15 Million in funding.
Here are the most interesting points from our conversation:
Innovative Orthopedic Care: Prescribe FIT integrates lifestyle modifications and weight loss into traditional orthopedic treatments, enhancing pain management and mobility for patients.
Patient Success Stories: Brock shares a compelling story of a patient who lost 174 pounds through the program, significantly improving her mobility and quality of life.
Founding Insight: The idea for Prescribe FIT emerged when Brock recognized the potential of prescribing physical activity as a form of medicine, akin to issuing daily doses of medication.
Market Research and Pivot: Initially spending a year and a half in research and market validation, Prescribe FIT pivoted based on feedback from hundreds of physicians, leading to the current successful product iteration.
Covid-19 Impact: The pandemic accelerated acceptance of digital health solutions in orthopedics, validating Prescribe FIT’s approach and boosting market traction.
Human-Centered Approach: Prescribe FIT emphasizes a human-centered care model, with each care coordinator managing up to 100 patients, ensuring personalized support and scalable growth.
//
 
Sponsors:
Front Lines — We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership.
www.FrontLines.io
 
The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe.
www.GlobalTalent.co
 

Eli Wachs, CEO & Co-Founder of Footprint: $20 Million Raised to Build the Future of Automated Onboarding

Welcome to another episode of Category Visionaries — the show that explores GTM stories from tech's most innovative B2B founders. In today's episode, we're speaking with Eli Wachs, CEO & Co-Founder of Footprint, an automated onboarding platform that's raised $20 Million in funding.
Here are the most interesting points from our conversation:
Stand-Up Comedy and Foundership: Eli balances his role as a founder with stand-up comedy, using it as a creative outlet and a way to connect with people outside of selling B2B SaaS products.
Solving Onboarding Frustrations: Footprint simplifies user onboarding with UX components that verify and store data, addressing KYC (Know Your Customer) needs while enhancing user experience.
Initial Vision and Evolution: The company started with a focus on combining security and identity. This led to their current emphasis on user-friendly onboarding, which has become a core value proposition.
Navigating Early Challenges: Eli emphasizes the importance of planting seeds through early-stage meetings and building trust over time, even if immediate results aren't evident.
Security as a Differentiator: Footprint's use of advanced security measures like Nitro Enclaves sets them apart, ensuring user data remains secure even when in use.
Target Market and Go-To-Market Strategy: Footprint initially focused on fintech and banks, leveraging relationships with fintechs to gain traction with banks. They later identified opportunities in real estate and auto markets, where KYC is not mandated but increasingly necessary.
 
//
 
Sponsors:
Front Lines — We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership.
www.FrontLines.io
 
The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe.
www.GlobalTalent.co
 

Senan Ebrahim, CEO & Founder of Delfina: $10 Million Raised to Build the Future of Intelligent Pregnancy Care

Welcome to another episode of Category Visionaries — the show that explores GTM stories from tech's most innovative B2B founders. In today's episode, we're speaking with Senan Ebrahim, CEO & Founder of Delfina, an intelligent pregnancy care platform that's raised over $10 Million in funding.
Here are the most interesting points from our conversation:
Inception of Delfina: Senan was inspired to create Delfina after witnessing a preventable stillbirth during his time as an MD PhD student at Harvard, leading to his focus on using AI to predict and prevent pregnancy complications.
Personal Motivation: A personal emergency involving his wife’s pregnancy highlighted the inadequacies in maternal health care, driving Senan’s commitment to improving the system.
Maternal Health Crisis: The US maternal health crisis is exacerbated by a reactive, profit-driven healthcare system, with particularly poor outcomes for marginalized groups such as Black and Native women.
Predictive Technology: Delfina's AI-powered platform can predict complications as early as 12-14 weeks into pregnancy, providing crucial insights to OB-GYNs and midwives.
Founding Journey: The first 90 days involved building the initial AI models and recruiting key team members, including his brother Ali as CTO and Priyanka Badia for product development.
Early Adoption and Validation: Delfina spent two years clinically validating their models with partners like Mayo Clinic before securing early customers, highlighting the importance of scientific validation in healthcare.
//
 
Sponsors:
Front Lines — We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership.
www.FrontLines.io
The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe. 
www.GlobalTalent.co

Spencer Dusebout, CEO & Founder of Aidium: $19 Million Raised to Build the Future of Mortgage CRM

Welcome to another episode of Category Visionaries — the show that explores GTM stories from tech's most innovative B2B founders. In today's episode, we're speaking with Spencer Dusebout, CEO & Founder of Aidium, a CRM platform for mortgage professionals that's raised $19 Million in funding.
Here are the most interesting points from our conversation:
Unique CRM Focus: Aidium targets the mortgage sector, providing an end-to-end solution from lead generation to client retention, filling a significant gap in the market.
Market Challenges: Spencer highlights the difficulties of disrupting a market dominated by legacy software and navigating stringent compliance requirements.
Customer-Centric Development: Aidium started by serving top producers, leveraging their influence and feedback to refine the product and expand within large organizations.
Iterative Go-to-Market Strategy: The company’s approach evolved from targeting top producers to a broader account-based marketing strategy focusing on enterprise clients.
Acquisition Insights: The acquisition of Whiteboard Technologies added valuable capabilities and customers, but Spencer emphasizes the complexity and all-consuming nature of acquisitions.
Fundraising Realities: Spencer shares that fundraising is a grind, requiring numerous pitches and a focus on finding investors who truly understand and align with the company’s vision.
 
//
 
Sponsors:
Front Lines — We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership.
www.FrontLines.io
The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe. 
www.GlobalTalent.co

Joe Witt, CEO & Co-Founder of Datavolo: $21 Million Raised to Unlock the Potential of Unstructured Data for AI

Welcome to another episode of Category Visionaries — the show that explores GTM stories from tech's most innovative B2B founders. In today's episode, we're speaking with Joe Witt, CEO & Co-Founder of Datavolo, a pioneering company in the AI data ingestion space that has raised $21 Million in funding.
Here are the most interesting points from our conversation:
NSA to Commercial World: Joe transitioned from working at the NSA, where he focused on data collection and security, to founding Datavolo, leveraging his expertise in large-scale data ingestion.
From Open Source to Enterprise: The journey of Apache NiFi, an open-source project initiated at the NSA, and how it became a cornerstone for Datavolo's technology in managing unstructured data.
Generative AI and Data Ingestion: Joe discusses the crucial role of data ingestion for generative AI, emphasizing the need to capture and process unstructured data for effective AI training and application.
Target Audience: Datavolo primarily targets data engineers who interact with AI engineers, providing tools to automate and optimize data pipelines.
Marketing Strategy: The importance of educating the market about the steps involved in integrating company-specific data with large language models (LLMs), and the benefits of automated data ingestion.
Funding and Growth: Insights into Datavolo’s successful fundraising journey, emphasizing the importance of a strong founding team and a clear vision in securing investment.
//
 
Sponsors:
Front Lines — We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership.
www.FrontLines.io
The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe. 
www.GlobalTalent.co

Daniel West, CEO of Prospection: $36 Million Raised to Build the Future of Patient-Centric Intelligence

Welcome to another episode of Category Visionaries — the show that explores GTM stories from tech's most innovative B2B founders. In today's episode, we're speaking with Daniel West, CEO of Prospection, a patient-centric intelligence platform that's raised over $36 Million in funding.
Here are the most interesting points from our conversation:
Category Creation Insights: Daniel emphasized that category design goes beyond marketing; it involves reshaping the entire business strategy, including messaging, sales enablement, and customer targeting.
Addressing Care and Share Leak: Prospection tackles significant issues in pharma by addressing care and share leaks, where patients do not receive optimal treatment, leading to poor outcomes and financial losses for pharma companies.
Market Positioning: Transitioning from selling to business intelligence teams to engaging with commercial leaders in pharma has been crucial for Prospection’s GTM strategy, focusing on delivering meaningful insights to drive better patient outcomes and market performance.
Challenges and Decisions: Daniel shared the tough decisions involved in turning away revenue that didn’t align with their category creation strategy, highlighting the importance of focus and alignment with long-term goals.
Role of the CEO in Category Design: Effective category design must be led by the CEO or be a core pillar of the CEO’s strategy, ensuring alignment across the organization and commitment to the long-term vision.
Learning from Experience: Daniel discussed the importance of adapting previous SaaS and tech industry experiences to fit the specific needs of Prospection, especially in terms of sales roles and understanding the unique combination of skills required in their niche market.
//
 
Sponsors:
Front Lines — We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership.
www.FrontLines.io
The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe. 
www.GlobalTalent.co